


C'est La Vie

by TarquinVision



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Angst, Destroy Ending, EDI is alive in the ship, Eventual Smut, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Geth are still there too, I don't care if it's not canon, M/M, Not an Shiros happy story, Past Thane Krios/Shepard, Post-Mass Effect 3, Real angst in the Shiros department, Shavik, Shavik tho, Thane is still dead, mass relays are a thing, so pretty much the destroy ending just with none of the consequences, still friendly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-11
Updated: 2017-04-12
Packaged: 2018-10-17 18:23:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10599600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TarquinVision/pseuds/TarquinVision
Summary: Levia Shepard did it, she defeated the Reapers and lived through it. Now she had to deal with the aftermath of both the Universe and her own life.Fic Playlist: https://8tracks.com/in-reverse/c-est-la-vie





	1. Fire In Her Veins

_“Will you hear my confession Siha?” A deep, almost rugged voice echoed throughout an arid, dark room._

_“What does_ siha _mean? Last time we talked like this, you said you'd explain what ”_ siha _” means.” Shepard’s own voice now joined the other one._

_“I need to explain myself to you, first.” Shepard didn’t respond so the_ drell _spoke up again, “When I married_ Irikah _, the H_ anar _let me leave their service to raise a family. But I had no other skills, so I freelanced. When Irikah was killed, I pursued those_ responsible _. Once I eliminated them, I had no goal. I accepted the Dantius commission because I didn't know what else to do.” Shepard’s form pushed from the wall, moving to sit at the table with the_ drell _._

_“Good thing we met when we did,” A small dry chuckle escaped her lips._

_“It was an intervention by the gods. I would have died in that penthouse. I would've fulfilled my contract. If Nassana's guards caught me_ afterward _, it would have been a good death. But someone else was pushing to reach the target. Forcing me to move faster. Challenging me. I had to reach her first.” A small smile ghosted his features._

_“I didn't know. I had no idea you'd planned to die in there.” There was a small, somber pause._

_“It wasn't a plan. My body had accepted_ its _death. My mind had been dead a long time.” He explained. “But I met another_ siha _. Few are privileged to meet even one.” She smiled, glancing away before looking back at the_ drell _._

_“You still haven't told me what a_ siha _is.” Shepard’s tone was one of amusement, happiness even._

_“One of the_ warrior-angels _of the goddess_ Arashu _. Fierce in wrath. A tenacious protector. I_ confess _I've come to care for you. Perhaps I'm being foolish. We are very different.” The_ drell _was very careful with his wording towards the end of the sentence and there was a brief pause._

_“I care for you too. I'm not sure we know each other well enough to call it love. But I feel something for you too. Something more than friendship.” Her hands connected with the_ drell's _._

Shepard’s jade orbs flickered open, pain shooting through her body.

“She’s waking up.” A familiar voice called out, Chakwas.

“Shepard, don’t move.” That was Miranda. Despite the warning, she attempted to move her arm to shield her eyes from the blasting white light. Pain immediately shot up to her shoulder and spread throughout her chest in tiny vines and pin pricks. Miranda placed her hand back on the table causing the pain to subside if only a little. “We need her to calm down, give her another round of sedatives.”

“Are you sure?” Chakwas asked and Miranda made a noise of affirmation. A small beep was heard and Shepard’s vision was graced with Chakwas’s worried face. “We’ve got you, Shepard.” Her body start to buzz and she could feel a wave of sleepiness wash over her. The type of sleepiness that she hadn’t felt in such a long time. How could she rest in a time like this? “You are safe.” The voice lulled her senses even more until she was completely at rest.


	2. Pacing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Javik hates pacing, but he hates pacing over a primitive even more.

Javik did not like to pace. This situation, however, this human woman, had him pacing without a second thought. He did not care that the Asari had told him more than fifty times to sit or that the Ancient Krogan threatened to knock him out if he didn’t settle down. Shepard was in there and he could not truly know she was okay with his own eyes.

She had defeated the Reapers.

She had defeated the Reapers and lived.

She _lived_.

The very thought that one single, fragile woman of a primitive race defeated the very machines that decimated his entire race after years and years of war put him at an unwary crossroad. He and this woman had shared something before the battle begun and she had shipped him away in hopes he would survive even if she did not. It angered him beyond belief that she would send him away before he had his due, but he remembered the fear in her eyes and the pit in his stomach as she commanded him away and raced with spiked emotions right into Harbinger'seam.

He remembered screaming as he was carried from the sight. He remembered the pain that ached through him at the thought of her corpse piled amongst the others. When news came in that she made it up to the Citadel his heart nearly stopped and he paced his quarter for hours upon hours, waiting for her return. He awaited her familiar walk into his quarters and he awaited her concern for his injuries.

But it did not come, instead, the Asari did. She explained that the Citadel crashed into the planet and that the Commander was no longer answering her comms, it was all static. He had never been fond of the Asari on board, Liara as she corrected him many times that she indeed had a name, but in that moment he begged that they land. He begged a primitive in order to save another and it did not bother him. The look of fear and recognition in her features was at the same time infuriating and comforting.

Then came the search. It seemed endless, the destruction. Javik had seen his worlds destroyed but this it was something different. Maybe it was knowing that she was underneath it all. He searched for days, weeks even until he found that small stretch of her conscious through the rubble. He dug until his hands bled and he pulled her from the wreckage, alerting the others to get her help.

The hospital was soon taken over by Alliance control since Shepard was inside, which meant they kept most of the aliens from the rooms if they were not patients. Speciesist even in a time of need. Javik on several occasions threatened the guards with the wrath of the last living Prothean, but to no avail, he was not permitted to see her. But he heard things, felt things from the doctors and nurses.  
She was extensively injured, one of her legs having to be amputated, her biotic implant needing replaced, work being needed on her cybernetics that brought her back from the dead before. There were more but he stopped keeping count, so he began to pace.

The other human, James, warned him that if he didn’t watch it he’d burn a hole in the carpet. Javik was aware it was some immature and pointless human analogy but he demanded to know why no one else was worried, why no one else was “burning a hole in the carpet” over this. Why was no one else concerned about the woman who saved them all?

“She made us promise to mourn in peace, not to dwell even if we wanted to.” One had spoken up, the synthetic, EDI. “Shepard did not want us to carry the weight of her actions upon ourselves, she demanded to be the one to pay the ultimate price.” Javik wanted to go back to the Commander's room at that time and shake her for being so foolish. But he couldn't, he wasn't even allowed to see if she was truly okay, he wasn't allowed to tell her his decision or his feelings. He was stuck with the other primitives who continued to dwell in silence.

So he continued to pace.


	3. His Not Hers

_ “Normandy do you copy? I need an evac! Right now!” Shepard practically screamed into her earpiece as she held her already bloodied gauntlet over Javik’s wound and he tried to shake his head. She knew he’d protest, she could practically hear him telling her there was no chance in hell, even if they were in it. The car they had been taking shelter behind exploded from a hit sending them toppling forward a bit. As the Normandy came into view and she helped him up with some assistance from Garrus. “Come on,” She hurried Javik to the ship, Garrus trailing just ahead of them. Once at the bottom of the shuttle bay she passed Javik’s weight over to Garrus.  _

_ “Here take him.” Her voice was nearly drowned out by all the gunfire. _

_ “Commander,” Javik tried to call out to her, to hang on but he couldn’t help but be displeased when she got farther and farther away from him, still on the ground. _

_ “You've got to get out of here,” She said as he was lead farther and farther from her. He felt so hopeless. He also felt anger rupture through him. _

_ “This is where I belong,” He scoffed, anger and grief crashing down on him in waves. _

_ “Don’t argue with me.” She commanded back and he was almost tempted to fight her on it but when her eyes met his he didn’t have the heart to do it. Her eyes were filled to the brim with what seemed to be tears. Was she scared? Did she know that this could be the end? _

_ “But I can still fight,” He managed to get out even though the pain streaking throughout his body begged to differ. _

_ “I need to know someone is getting out of this alive.” Her voice cracked considerably as she glanced back at the beam.  _

_ "Commander,” His hand reached out for her, a wave of panic pushing over him. His eyes caught hers and he knew this could be the last time he ever saw her, the last time he ever got to hear her voice. His hand still stayed there, reached out as though there was a chance he’d convince her back onto the ship with him. _

_ "Good luck." She offered him a small, sad smile. A roar from Harbinger echoed through the air and her head flung to look at the source. Her fiery red hair caught in the lights as she flung to look back at him. It wasn't until now that he saw the hint of fear in her eyes. “Now go!” She yelled, waving them off before turning to run back into the path of the Reapers. He struggled against the turian's grip, anger and pain ripping through his body. This should have been his sacrifice, not hers. _

Javik was shook lightly, his body jolting awake as his eyes opened, wide and bewildered. Before him stood the doctor from the Normandy. As he had heard she and the Cerberus woman, Miranda, were the ones taking care of the Commander. 

“How is she?” He rushed out and the doctor offered an understanding smile and looked around the group of sleeping bodies. She then motioned for him to follow her, an invitation which he took willingly. 

“She has requested to have some visitors.” The doctor chuckled. “She says it’s entirely way too quiet.” They traveled through mazes of halls that Javik wasn’t even aware existed until they stopped at a large, locked down room. 

He watched the doctor insert many codes into the room’s keypad and once the door opened he was surprised that the doctor shut the door behind him. He stared at the door for quick a bit of time until a small voice piped up from behind him.

“Is it just me or are we both supposed to be dead?” Her voice was crackled and broken. But it was her voice. 

“It seems that fate has a strange sense of humor.” He chuckled, his feet carrying himself over to her bedside.

  
_ But perhaps the strange sense of humor that fate held was a wink of luck in both their directions. _


End file.
